Wurm Team Blog

Disruptive technology

rolfjan — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:39:30 +0000

Today was the last day of the Conference here in Cologne, and I attended only one seminar. TomDuBois from OnLive held it and I think that it was the most important one of the conference.

Two companies have been discussed here as Cloud Gaming providers, Gaikai and OnLive. I’ve always frowned upon the idea because of hardware and bandwidth consideration but the demo he made really turned me into a believer.

Let me explain shortly: a cloud gaming provider has a huge server farm where you play your game. In order to gain HD quality gaming your client needs to have about 5Mbit bandwidth. You send input signals from the keyboard or some other device to the server, and the server provides you with the rendered image.

This means that there’s no need for you to have a very powerful pc or console yourself. You only need the input devices and I guess a simple OnLive client that handles the communication. You’ll be able to rent games for a few days or decide to purchase them permanently. You can watch other people’s feeds as well if they allow you to because everyone playing is basically on TV. It’s a bit like spotify for games.

The demo was very impressive and apparently they already have it up and running in the US. I assume it will be working well here in Europe in a year or two. I wonder if there will be any new consoles released in the markets where there’s broadband and this is in place or if we’ve just seen the last generation of high end gaming consoles.

The good news is that there’ll be a lot of incentive to create really good high budget games for this platform as it removes a lot of problems that the business faces such as second hand market, piracy and various client hacks. And since you can play the same game on your handheld devices as well as on your PC or TV it’s good for the consumers as well.

Anyways, then we walked around on the GamesCom. Guild Wars 2 and Castlevania got most of my attention. I expect to play Civ 5 a lot as well but I didn’t have a lot of time testing it. Before we went home I took a free ride in one of those chairs that propels you 10-20 yards into the air using rubber bands. I have a very strong voice and I heard myself screaming from fear in some weird guttural way that I didn’t recognize and most people in the area stared at me. Now Andreas/Zcul mimics that scream now and then when he thinks it’s a good idea which I usually don’t.

GDC Cologne

rolfjan — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:56:59 +0000

Allright so I’ve been in Cologne for the GDC now for two days and I thought I’d write a short sum-up of my impressions.

The absolutely most interesting thing you notice is the sort of disruption that “browser” based (runescape) and “social” games (farmville) have caused in the industry. Most noticably social games since they often have extremely low production costs but absolutely huge revenues.

Estimates are that Zynga makes about as much money as Blizzard but with higher profits. Some numbers suggest that social games have 45% profit margin while the console industry wrestles with approximately 3%.

This makes a lot of people nervous, and I believe there’s been a real shift in the audience here. I guess there’s still a large amount of “traditional” business going on with publishers talking to and signing game developers, talking to distributors etc but I see a lot of online game developers who publish themselves or hook up to Facebook, Bigpoint or similar sites. I see a lot less Work for Hire companies and Distributors this year.

It’s like the industry has been staring themselves blind on consoles and are waking up in a nightmare.

What I did Day 1:

All Point Bulletins Postmorten session was cancelled for some reason.

Listened to Bo Wang from Tencent Games – don’t remember much.

David Cage explained how Heavy Rain was developed. It sounds absolutely amazing and I hope to play it. They spent something like 4 years with 250 people on it. The risk involved in that was apparent but from what I understand they made it.

Petur Johannes from Eve explained how Player councils work in Eve and other MMOs.

Warren Spector held a fantastic keynote where he explained his view of games as an artform and we got to see a trailer for the next Disney game.

Finished of with Steve Meretzky from Playdom who gave good insights in how they produced their Social City facebook game and generously gave away lots of hints, tips and formulaes they use. Very interesting even though the simplicity of the concept kind of makes me a bit naseuos.

Day 2:

Heiko Hubertz the CEO of Bigpoint talked about how they have grown and their plans for the North American market, the differences and difficulties. He gave insight in how Zynga, which is a lot newer company could surpass them in size and revenue so easily acting on the homogenous US market where you don’t need to support 30 languages.

We attended a semi-interesting panel about browser based versus client based MMOs, the conclusion of which pretty much is that the type of game has influence on whichever you choose.

Martin Walfisz of the Swedish company Planeto held a very good presentation where he explained the mechanics behind social games. I liked the definition of a social game as a tactic rather than a type of game.

Keynote from the guys behind Killzone, Guerilla Games.

An old style conference panel where companies such as the publisher EA and developer Avalanche described how to get contacts and contracts I guess. I heard a bit bad and I didn’t feel it applied much to my situation.

A guy we’ve had some beers and laughs with, Andreas Öjerfors held a very good seminar where he explained the untapped potential of MMOs which he believes is the ability to achieve change and have impact on the game. Which of course is right up my alley!

Wurm is a Game with a Soul

Poseidon GM — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:54:55 +0000

Not to get too philosophical here or anything, but when people say that ‘Wurm is different’, maybe they are referring to Wurm’s soul. I know this sounds like an absurd concept for what is essentially just a video game, but hear me out.

There is, without a doubt, something that exists within Wurm which sets it apart from most other games, at least that I have played. I admit, when I found Wurm at the age of thirteen , the only gaming experience I had was in games like Runescape along with various trivial browser games, so I could never have considered myself some kind of gaming expert. Nevertheless, for the last five years Wurm really has spoiled me in terms of what I find to be standards in a game, there is simply no other.

The (very old) screenshot which caught my eye. Click the image to visit Wurm's page on Gameogre.com

The beauty of Wurm

Surely there is a reason for this. When I joined in 2005, Wurm’s beauty was, perhaps, in it’s simplicity and the huge freedom offered by the game, and the fact it was anything but trivial, which at least to me was, at that time, unprecedented. The deal clincher for me was a player’s freedom to modify the terrain, and build their own house. The fact that I was torn to pieces several times by a black wolf, and suffered a PvP death in my first 24 hours of gameplay did not phase me at all. In fact, this challenge just ignited the flame.

But the reason Wurm has a soul runs far deeper than that. Wurm is not, and I desperately hope will never be, developed by a cold corporate giant. Sure, Wurm development has been slowed due to funding restrictions which do not allow Rolf to hire his own team of server developers, but at least the Wurm community knows who is who. Take any MMO created by a larger company and I guarantee you that you will never have a conversation and actually get to know the developers, and feel like your opinion actually matters.

Truly player driven

In a sense, Wurm is mostly run by the players in terms of game play and game development. The Wild Server, for instance, has had a dynamic history and has an unpredictable future longer than both of my arms, all due to decisions made by individual players and more likely groups of players. Similarly, most of the development team joined Wurm initially as players, who later volunteered to use their talents to improve Wurm online’s future. This is the type of thing you just don’t see in most games.

Perhaps Wurm’s soul could derive from the fact that it displays perhaps one of humanity’s most important traits; it has flaws. While none of these are fatal in nature, there’s no avoiding the fact that in Wurm, everybody looks the same. There is basically no visual customer characterisation at all, and Wurm is not (yet) exactly renowned for it’s graphics, or being free from bugs and problems. Rather than being overly negative, this indeed provides Wurm with a very distinct and human ‘personality’.

Wurm’s character

One of the driving forces behind Wurm’s very distinctive personality is it’s tightly knit community. While it is possible to play Wurm alone, it is not advisable, and the vast majority of not all of Wurm’s greatest players are only in that position due to the support of many others, who help them to run their settlements, produce their equipment, or fight alongside them on the battlefield. Remember; nothing in Wurm appears out of thin air. There are no equipment vendors. It is all made through hard work by you or another player.

Maybe Wurm benefits from the grounded reality that ‘life isn’t perfect’, which adds massive depth to the game. Indeed, we can quote from Wurm’s early days that it leads the world in being perhaps the first self-styled MMOFS (Massively Multiplayer Online Fantasy Simulator) or to quote from the website “an Alternate Way of Living”. In this respect, Wurm is a game which you either love or hate. You either enjoy the challenge of living in a hostile environment, spending many hours to forge your own destiny, or you simply prefer to load up a first person shooter and kill people for an hour.

By the way…

If you haven’t seen the new website design, you should really check it out. It’s awesome!

Bug Reporting!

Poseidon GM — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:25:39 +0000

Imagine, if you will, that one day you find yourself in a situation where, for example, you think you’ve found a bug but you’re not quite sure what to do next.

Assuming that you’re certain that you have found a bug, the usual response is the use of /dev. That’s fine, but remember that GMs cannot help with every problem. Say, for instance, that your cart finds its way through a solid wall into a secured area. In that case, it is possible that a GM will be able to assist because we can summon items toward us, but players on the Golden Valley and Freedom would have to break in, which is against server rules.

However, if the bug was to involve a pet disappearing into the underworld, or the void, or wherever bugged creatures go, then it is very unlikely that a GM or even a Developer will be able to help to retrieve it. We are simply not able to bring creatures back from such areas nor are we able to spawn new creatures for you in compensation. In any case, we try our best using the tools we have to fix any problems which arise.

Let’s assume that a GM has fixed the damage a bug has caused. Is that the end of it?

Not really. Bugs need to be officially reported, especially if they can be reproduced. Ideally, this should be done on the Bugs and Problems section on the official forums. Unfortunately, GMs do not always have time to report every bug we come across on the forum, so we’d be very grateful if you helped out in that respect. After all, the faster bugs are reported and confirmed, the faster they can be fixed!

If the bug is serious and highly exploitable, the best course of action is to keep details of the bug quiet and report the bug to the GMs, or directly to Oracle in an e-mail, especially if the bug can be reproduced easily. It is vital that the more severe bugs are reported to us so they can be dealt with as soon as possible. You should never spread instructions for bug exploitation, because this can lead to trouble and potentially punishment.

What if I find a solution myself?

If you find ways to avoid bugs, or makeshift ways to fix them in-game, even if it is as simple as logging in/out of the game, please let us know. This can be helpful if recorded on the Bugs and Problems forum, so other players who find themselves in a similar situation can reach the solutions faster. It also helps the GM team respond to those who have the bug ingame.

Hopefully this helps to clear one or two things up a little bit! =)

Update on the Swedish meeting

rolfjan — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:28:56 +0000

Since there was so short notice and it’s on a weekday in a small town people have a hard time meeting up. We’ll be at least 5-10 people but the more the merrier!

We’ll be grilling, bathing, maybe playing some beach games, listen to music and in general stay soft and talk. If the weather is nice. If it isn’t we’ll be in a more suitable location.

There will be pork steaks, sausages, potato- and green salad and some basic adult and child beverages. Bring anything else you want. If you know that you will attend please post here but it’s also okay to make last minute decisions.

If you’re not going to be camping at Z-parken, I suggest staying at Vättervågen if possible.

Talking Tutorials

Poseidon GM — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:18:06 +0000

If you play Wurm, the chances are you’ve already completed the tutorial.

If you haven’t, they currently use NPC tutorial ‘guides’ that give text-based instructions to players. They then send them away to complete their mini goals on the premise that they return to recieve more once they are finished. This repeats until all of the missions are completed.

The problem is that this method of tutorial relies too heavily on theory (text) rather than the practical usage of that theory (doing things). On top of that, to advance in the tutorial you need to return to the guides time and time again which can be very repetitive.

That’s why we’re in the process of creating the new tutorial using the new mission code.

Led by Enki (GM), the new tutorial is being constructed on the Golden Valley server in a purpose-built tutorial complex. This will be split into stages, each relating to different gameplay elements, ranging from interaction and navigation to the more advanced aspects of crafting and combat.

So, why change it?

The purpose of the re-design is fairly simple – to create a new tutorial which is more structured, dynamic and which offers new players a more effective introduction to the game. So, rather than needing to repeatedly return to guides (that is, if they are found in the first place), new players will spawn directly within the tutorial complex and begin right away, guided by a scripted mission with triggers that can be as simple as standing on a tile, or examining an object.

As you can imagine, this new functionality grants us a considerably large degree of freedom to create a far more useful and effective introduction for new players. This is important, because an ineffective tutorial can lead to problems later on. For instance, very often players can fall into holes yet have no experience using the ‘Climb’ button, and as a result need to spend time either figuring that out or asking other players.

When will it be finished?

At this time we are still in the early stages of construction, so it would be unwise to give out a solid ETA. That said, progress is (at the moment) good. To better illustrate the current state of the tutorial area, I have included one or two screenshots.

The tutorial area as a whole, including all nine stages as of 1st August 2010, though please be aware that only stage one (bottom left) is near to completion.

Tutorial stage one (Navigation), under construction as of 1st August 2010. Note the similarities with an assault course, including slopes, terrain types and climbing.

Wurm Meeting in Motala Aug 10th

rolfjan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:40:55 +0000

Allright I’ve decided on a date for the Wurm meeting in Motala, Sweden. We’ll meet August the 10th at 17.00 hrs on the beach below Restaurant Vättershall. There will be some kind of noticable gathering symbol. Everyone’s invited! That’s all I have for now but I’ll keep you posted!

You can discuss attendance in the forums here.

Heading out of the office

rolfjan — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:50:38 +0000

I didn’t get to finish the fences or titles before I head off to vacation but I’m going to work a few rainy days anyways so they’ll arrive when that happens. Those submerged creatures I wrote about have been coded. The models aren’t finished yet but they’re coming as well.

Now off to get some tan!

Close to the top

rolfjan — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:33:13 +0000

So,

feature creep these last two months. Or depending on how you see it putting important systems in place and removing a lot of bugs.

Today I feel as if I’m resting on a ledge close to the top.

This latest climb lasted for a few months and we have conquered hazards and obstacles such as movement lag, positioning bugs, rectangular deeds and more anti-griefing code, mobile payments, mission code that will be used for both a new tutorial and other ingame events. A number of bugs has also been fixed to the extent that we’re actually running out of notable ones.

Most of these changes are silent preparations for the future and does little to affect current gameplay much.

This is the last week before I go on summer vacation. I will avoid doing anything game-damaging this week. I will rest on this ledge, and try to get some minor lacking features in. I’m going to start by looking at the new fence types, a couple of submerged monsters, and putting unused court titles to use. Hopefully I’ll have time for some more nifties as well.

When the first version of the new tutorial is in place, I’ll get to work on a rainy day and open up freedom for non-premiums.

I’m starting to plan a Wurm meeting here in Motala some time in August. I’ll post dates here and in the forums about the progress of that.

The first week after the vacation I’ll be in Cologne on Game developers conference. If you’re there’ drop me an email and we can say hello!

After that my first priority will be to get the Epic server in place. It will take a few weeks so a careful estimate is that we’ll see it arrive in the end of September. That will be the last climbing phase, and once there I will consider Wurm to be at 1.0!

PS. Check out the mobile payment options in the web shop unless you have already! Note that most countries are available in only one or two of the available products. DS.

20th best PC Game ever?

rolfjan — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:25:27 +0000

It’s slowly starting to sink in. I am slowly starting to believe it myself. I am looking at angles. Questioning reality. The minds and actions of others.

Is it a scam? Has someone rigged the whole vote?

Nobody has pulled the carpet below my feet yet and it is slowly starting to make sense.

Wurm may actually be worthy of the 20th position on the PC Gamer top 100 list.

I mean it’s not like I’ve been trying to aim for something less than position 1 since we started. It’s just that I didn’t expect us to be so close already! I still consider Wurm to be in beta (sorry). Number twenty. Wow.

Thank you and congratulations team! This should be some kind of reward for all the efforts you put in.

Thanks everyone who voted. Bless you all. You usually need to score 80-90+ in a review in order to really attract customers, but I don’t want reviews yet and this should be even better. This should actually open doors and people may decide to try the game out a little longer if they know you value it this way. Hopefully we’ll start leaving the 1500 paying customers mark where we’ve been stalling for quite a while now.

Number twenty. Wow.

I’ll quote myself from a forum post on the topic:

“Seeing that list actually makes me understand that we could make it this high. It makes sense.

I mean we’re often compared to Eve for good reasons with the sandbox approach and player run economy. We’re a fantasy MMO like WoW and we all hope we’re doing something unique in that category. We have a huge open ended and hugely interactive world like Oblivion or Fallout 3. We also attract Dwarf Fortress players. So we’re kind of smack in the middle. First person I guess like Half Life although I won’t even pretend that there are any similarities. Except some pretty hardcore PvP maybe.”

I hope you all feel proud that this game you’re playing or contributing to made it this far. Together we can hopefully make it even better!

Cheers and hugs all around!

PS. Yes I am aware that I actually did pretend there were similarities. DS